Cotabato blast: Suspects’ CCTV image out; P500K reward up

AT LARGE Police say the man on the left was the carrier of the second IED. —PHOTOS COURTESY OF POLICE REGIONAL OFFICE 12

COTABATO CITY — Police on Friday released CCTV images of two men suspected of carrying out the New Year’s Eve bombing in front of South Seas Mall here that killed two people and wounded 34 others.

Senior Supt. Oliver Enmodias, head of Special Investigation Task Group-South Seas, showed the media the images of the two suspects, each carrying a bag, as they entered the mall.

The male suspects — one between 25 and 30 years old and the other between 50 and 60 — later placed a bag next to the lotto outlet and baggage counter on the second floor of the mall minutes before an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded outside the mall around 1:50 p.m.

The blast ripped through sidewalk stalls at the Don Rufino Alonzo Avenue exit of the mall.

Bomb experts later discovered the unexploded second IED on the second floor.

“[The images of the two suspects] were clearly captured by CCTV and we have strong evidence they were behind the bombing,” Enmodias said.

Days before plebiscite

Enmodias and Senior Supt. Rolly Octavio, city police director, have appealed to the public for help in locating the suspects in the blast, which came days before the holding of a  plebiscite on a law that will give Muslims an autonomous homeland in Mindanao.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front chair Murad Ebrahim condemned the attack, saying it was “an act of cowardice, inhuman and atrocious.”

With the release of the CCTV images, the city government of Cotabato put up a P500,000 cash reward for any information leading to the arrest of the suspects, said retired police Senior Supt. Rolen Balquin, city civil security chief.

Chief Supt. Eliseo Tam Rasco, Soccsksargen police director, said the task force was still hunting seven cohorts of the suspects, three of them women. He did not reveal the cohorts’ roles in the blast.

Investigators said results of the analysis conducted by a police bomb disposal team showed the blast radius at 38 meters, making the IED more lethal than a fragmentation grenade.

“We are still investigating the group behind the blast as well the explosive they use,” said Army Capt. Arvin Encinas, the region’s military spokesperson.

The CCTV footage showed the younger suspect, wearing a blue shirt with red short sleeves, leaving the bag next to the lotto outlet, with the older suspect acting as lookout, said Supt. Aldrin Gonzales, chief of the Public Information Office of the Philippine National Police-Region 12.

The bag contained black powder that emitted foul odor, he said.

On Jan. 21, residents of Mindanao’s five provinces and two cities will hold a plebiscite on the Bangsamoro Organic Law that will allow Muslim Filipinos to form a parliament and administration. —With reports from Jeoffrey Maitem and Faye Orellana